EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS EXPRESSION - EXPERIMENT I.
Abstract
The effects of three variables in the expression of a written technical message upon the effectiveness of the message were tested on seven definably different audiences in a 2x2x2 factorial experiment. The message was a 3619 word passage describing a simple mechanical device and containing ten line drawings. The variables tested were sentence length, agreement in number between subject and verb, and shifts in point-of-view. The effectiveness of the message was measured by a comprehension test, reading time, judgments of the author's knowledge of his subject, and judgments of the author's competence as a writer. The conditions of the variables tested do not appear to have affected the effectiveness of the message in the audiences tested. Contrasts of total comprehension by individual audiences and groups of audiences generally support the hypothesis that more intelligent subjects understand the message better than do those at a lower level of intelligence; that at a given level of intelligence, subjects with known technical inclinations understand the material better than do those without known technical inclinations; and that subjects with technical inclinations understand the material as well as do those without known technical inclinations at a higher level of intelligence. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0691210
Entities
People
- Richard M. Davis
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology